September 03 2021
The fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban leaves the future of the Iranian port of Chabahar in doubt.
India had promised to invest large sums to develop Chabahar, primarily so it could use the port to trade with Afghanistan, bypassing Pakistan and presumably building up Afghanistan to cause some pain for Pakistan.
But now that the Pakistani-backed Taliban are in power, India is likely to lose all interest in Chabahar which may return the port to its long-time status of a backwater.
Iran has complained for several years that India has not fulfilled its pledges to invest in Chabahar. And, indeed, India has dragged its feet.
Some blame the US sanctions on Iran and say India does not want to anger the Americans. But the US has granted some sanctions waivers because it is in US interest to see more Afghan-India trade. Or, at least it was until the last few weeks.
Others say India is dragging its feet because Iran has been dragging its feet on building a rail line from Chabahar to Zahedan a railway needed to carry the products of India-Afghan trade.
At any rate, India is not likely to see Chabahar as a priority any longer. And that’s not good news for Chabahar.
Sanjay Kapoor wrote in an article for the website Hardnews August 16 that the rise of the Taliban had left India with almost nothing from Chabahar port development.
“The huge Chabahar Port project in Iran, meant to allow India to side-step Pakistan and take the land route to Afghanistan and Central Asia, seems like a dead investment now a dream gone sour,” he wrote.